The Uproar Conservation Challenge Returns in 2027
The IUCN Species Survival Commission in partnership with Indianapolis Zoo, and their Global Center for Species Survival, celebrate the return of the Uproar Conservation Challenge awarding more than $55,000 to species at risk, including $10,000 to a single winner. Nominations for 2027 species are being accepted now.
Nearly 50,000 species face extinction due to climate change, habitat loss or over exploitation. The threat is real. The timeline is urgent. But together, the conservation community can act.
The Uproar Conservation Challenge was launched earlier this year to bring worldwide attention to lesser-known species. Indianapolis Zoo, in collaboration with the IUCN SSC and the Global Center for Species Survival, approached this scenario with the help of a fun, new challenge in which the voting public determines who should receive the most conservation funding. In the first year of the Challenge, 1.3 million votes were cast from more than 200 countries and territories to narrow 64 participating species down to one: The Bolivian Ornate Tiger Beetle (Pometon bolivianus).
As the inaugural Uproar Conservation Challenge winner, the IUCN SSC Tiger Beetle Specialist Group will receive $10,000 in conservation grant funding. The remaining species (animals, plants and fungi) split the remaining purse of $45,000 for the event.
IUCN Chair's Office works to cultivate partnerships, enhance donor engagement, and build mechanisms for sustained financial and institutional support across the IUCN SSC Network. We are encouraged to see the results of the work developed with Indianapolis Zoo through our partnership for the Global Center for Species Survival. It was exciting to hear of this first-year success of the Uproar Conservation challenge, and the hope is for even more worldwide participation in 2027” said Vivek Menon FLS, chair of IUCN Species Survival Commission.
The Uproar Conservation Challenge provides a bracket-style challenge in an online voting format that allows people to learn about an at-risk species, understand its significance and explore the threats it faces. The goal is to provide a fun and accessible pathway for the public to learn more about species that may otherwise go unnoticed. The awareness generated via the Uproar Challenge also helps inform people of the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.
What we saw with the Uproar Conservation Challenge was exciting, because we had the public interest in species that may never have been known otherwise. Participants voted online for what species they wanted to move on during the competition, but only after learning important information about its status in the world and some of the serious threats against it. That is direct conservation education.” said Dr. Nico de Bruyn, vice president of Conservation and Education at the Indianapolis Zoo.
In 2026, every species participating in the Challenge received funding. For 2027, only species that advance beyond the first round will receive funding, meaning 32 species can share $55,000 in prize money connected to the Uproar Conservation Challenge.
Nominate your species now!
IUCN SSC Specialist Groups are invited to nominate species by October 17, 2026. The IUCN SSC Global Center for Species Survival at the Indianapolis Zoo will work with nominated IUCN SSC Specialist Groups to make the final selection of 64 participants. Once the Challenge Wheel is complete with all 64 species, five rounds of voting will take place across several days for each round from April 2027. The winner will be named from among the final four species who received the most votes, and will be named during a live event on Saturday, May 1, 2027, at the Zoo. Winners must earn votes in each round to advance in the Challenge.
- 64 species selected by December
- Challenge voting begins April 2027
- Winner announced live on May 1, 2027, at a live event (livestream).
Please note, all nominations must be approved by the chair of an IUCN SSC Species Specialist Group before submission. Nominate your species for 2027!